44 THE STUDY OF SPEECH CURVES. 



103; beyond the middle it is already quite different. Somewhere here 

 we must place the vowel-like "r." The change continues and a new type 

 gradually arises in line 104 and lasts till the middle of line 105; this is 

 the vowel [e]. Again we ol)serve that nowhere in this whole sequence is 

 there any sudden change, nowhere any possiliility of assigning limits 

 between the three vowels [uJe]. We must conclude that there are no 

 such limits and that the sound changes gradually throughout. Another 

 unexpected fact confronts us; very little change is found in the curve for 

 [e] in lines 104, 105. The change can hardly be detected; it is far less 

 than that for [a] in lines 99, 101, or, in fact, for most simple vowels. 

 The prevaihng view that "long a" in English is a diphthong [ei] is not 

 correct for this example of American "a." 



The vowel [o] of "or" occupies nearly two lines of the record (105- 

 107) ; its curve shows considerable resemblance to that of [a]. The changes 

 in the latter part indicate the presence of some other sound, possibly [a]. 

 The [j] in "creed" is weak; so is the vowel [i]. The [ai] in lines 110, 

 111, shows again a steady change from beginning to end. The group with 

 a large number of short vibrations as in line 110 is quite different from that 

 with three longer and stronger vibrations in line 111. These types are 

 characteristic of most cases of [ai] (see the special study of [ai] in 

 Appendix II of my "Elements of Experimental Phonetics"). This [ai] 

 may quite properly be called a "diphthong" on the understanding that 

 it does not consist of a separate [a] followed by a separate [i], but is a single 

 long vowel sound (changing steadily from Ijeginning to end) in which the 

 first portion resembles [a] and the latter [i]. I have used [i] to indicate 

 the latter part, although it is not the same sound as an independent [i]. 

 The plate ends with a few vibrations of [a] of " can" spoken as [kan]. 



Another illustration of qualitative analysis will now be given. Plate 

 IX is from a record of "The Sad Story of the Death and the Burial of 

 Poor Cock Robin." The weak vibrations of [w], Une 1, are followed by 

 strong ones of [i]; the change is gradual as usual. The [i] is followed 

 by the weak vibrations of [5] and [m] which can not Ije distinguished from 

 each other. The [m] passes into [a] of [ai] in two vibrations; the first of 

 these is weaker, the Ups not having opened ; the second is stronger, but the 

 smaller vibrations are not those of the following [a], the mouth not yet 

 having reached the [a] position. The following vil^rations for [a] are quite 

 characteristic ; they rise steadily in pitch and amplitude. About the middle 

 of [ai], Une 3, the ampUtude steadily falls, although the pitch continues 

 to rise. The form of the curve steadily changes to the utterly different 

 form for [i] in the latter half. The groups of two ahnost equal vibrations 



